I've seen some rank him as high as the second greatest flyweight of all time and I fail to see the justification for it outside of a win over an faded Wilde. Was he an ATG flyweight or is he overrated because of his death at a young age?
1. Wilde 2. Canto 3. Perez 4. Wolgast 5. Lynch 6. Genaro 7. Villa 8. Kingpetch 9. Obha 10. Accavello He's #7 for me. A survey where 20-something posters voted a few years back had him at #5. ATG Flyweight? Yes. Top 2 all time Flyweight? No.
IDK if I'd rank him as high as #2, but he also had wins over several other quality fighters of his era like Bud Taylor (HoFer), Kid Williams (HoFer), Abe Goldstein, & Johnny Buff.
This looks about right to me. I could see bumping him up one spot to sixth or down one to eighth but those guys are on basically the same tier — this top five is a cut above, a dropoff below that in class. (And I’d argue Perez for No 2 but Wilde is a clear No. 1 to me.
Genaro beating Villa 3 out of 3 makes it difficult for me to see Villa above him, otherwise I agree, I'm happy with the top 5 and wouldn't argue too hard if someone had Kingpetch above Villa.